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AMERICANIZING  AN 
INDUSTRIAL  CENTER 


AN  ACCOUNT  OF 
EXPERIENCE  AND  PROCEDURE 

IN  THE  TOWNS  OF  THE 

St.  Louis.  Rocky  Mountain  &  Pacific  Company 

IN 
COLFAX  COUNTY.  NEW  MEXICO 


HORACE  W.KRUSE 
WELFARE  MANAGER 


MANAC 


AMERICANIZING  AN 
INDUSTRIAL  CENTER 


AN  ACCOUNT  OF 
EXPERIENCE  AND  PROCEDURE 

IN  THE  TOWNS  OF  THE 

St.  Louis.  Rocky  Mountain  &  Pacific  Company 

IN 

COLFAX  COUNTY.  NEW  MEXICO 


HORACE  WJCRySE 
WELFARE  MXfCAGER 


'C7  kr 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/americanizingindOOkrusrich 


Copyright,  1920 

By 
Horace  W.  Kruse 


THE  NEED  OF  THE  WORK 

In  this  day  when  the  attention  of  the  nation  is  drawn  to- 
ward its  foreign  born  population,  the  vital  question  is  to 
find  means  of  assimilating  this  vast  influx  of  people  into 
our  American  life  and  imbuing  them  with  American  stand- 
ards and  ideals.  The  work  of  Americanization  to  be  well 
grounded,  must  start  at  the  beginnings.  In  the  first  place, 
recognition  must  be  made  of  the  conditions  which  these 
people  were  used  to  in  Europe  and  Asia.  The  majority  of 
them  came  in  the  hope  of  finding  everything  different  here, 
and  better  than  the  conditions  they  left  behind  in  the  old 
country.  The  word  "Liberty"  attracted  them  supremely. 
But  the  realization  is  in  no  way  equal  to  their  anticipation. 
They  arrive  in  New  York  in  vast  hordes  and  in  a  few  hours 
they  are  lost  in  this  country.  Many  of  them  have  come  here 
because  of  word  they  have  received  from  relatives  who  pre- 
ceded them.  Those,  perhaps,  are  most  fortunate.  They  find 
their  way  into  different  parts  of  the  country;  others,  who 
are  pioneers,  get  lost  in  the  life  of  the  big  cities. 

Vast  numbers  of  the  immigrants  finally  locate  in  the 
great  industrial  centers.  It  is  with  the  problems  in  one  of 
these  centers  that  we  have  to  deal. 

THE  ALIEN  GROUP 

Our  first  problem  in  dealing  with  the  foreign  born  in  an 
industrial  center  is  this.  As  soon  as  the  foreigners  arrive 
they  group  themselves.  In  our  small  towns  we  find  that  we 
have  whole  communities  of  Italians,  Montenegrins,  Aus- 
trians,  Greeks,  Japanese;  and  we  find,  too,  that  here, 
grouped  together  as  they  are,  they  adhere  as  closely  to  the 
customs  of  the  countries  from  which  they  came  as  it  is  pos- 
sible for  them  to  do. 

To  one  informed  as  to  the  vast  differences  of  social  view- 
point, the  ideals  and  customs  of  the  foreign  born,  it  is  ob- 
vious that  any  rigid  system  of  management  in  such  an  en- 
deavor would  be  ineffective.    Furthermore,  practically  any 

Page  Five 


method  of  procedure  that  might  be  evolved  requires  con- 
stant alteration  and  sometimes  reversal  of  practice  to  fulfill 
even  in  part  the  demands  that  arise  in  conditions  that  are 
local  and  in  a  way  peculiar. 

For  the  most  part,  the  Americans  if  they  consider  for- 
eigners at  all,  think  that  the  privilege  of  coming  to  this  coun- 
try is  quite  enough.  They  feel  that  merely  being  here  is  a 
sufficient  incentive  for  them  to  absorb  American  standards, 
and  that  in  permitting  them  to  come  to  this  country  the  ob- 
ligation toward  them  has  been  fully  met.  Few  have  appre- 
ciated the  menace  of  these  foreign  communities  to  the  gen- 
eral welfare  of  our  country  until  they  were  startled  into  the 
realization  of  what  these  groupings  of  foreigners  really  held. 
Investigation  showed  that  they  knew  nothing  of  the  Amer- 
ican questions;  they  had  no  incentive  to  acquire  American 
ideals.  For  years  they  lived  in  the  country  without  being 
able  to  speak  the  language.  The  great  majority  of  the  for- 
eigners were  satisfied  to  be  here  and  it  was  their  intention 
to  stay  in  this  country.  Then,  it  was  the  part  of  the  Amer- 
ican people  to  instill  into  these  people  the  spirit  that  v/ould 
prompt  them  to  want  to  become  American  citizens.  When 
the  Americanization  movement  is  mentioned  it  too  often  re- 
solves itself  into  thinking  that  the  only  thing  to  do  is  to  ask 
the  foreigners  to  take  out  their  first  papers.  No  special  at- 
tention is  paid  as  to  whether  facilities  are  given  them  to 
learn  the  language  or  in  any  way  to  learn  the  standards  of 
living  as  they  are  recognized  here. 

THE  GROUP  PROBLEM  AT  OUR  MINES 

At  our  several  mines  it  is  a  noticeable  circumstance  that 
the  various  nationalities  have,  insofar  as  practicable,  formed 
distinct  communities  among  their  own  races,  collecting  in 
neighborhoods  in  the  closely  built  towns  so  that  they  may 
associate  as  exclusively  and  continue  as  far  as  compatible 
with  American  privileges,  the  habits  and  customs  peculiar 
to  their  own  lands.  Our  experience  leads  us  not  to  discour- 
age this  practice  but  to  meet  it  from  another  angle.    In  the 

Page  Six 


meantime,  it  is  much  easier  to  approach  the  foreign  born 
through  their  own  selected  leaders,  who  are  conversant  with 
the  language  and  practice  of  their  American  fellows.  The 
Company  has  placed  the  responsibility  upon  the  American- 
ization educators  to  inform  themselves  thoroughly  and  sym- 
pathetically upon  the  basic  characteristics  of  the  workmen  so 
that  common  ground  may  be  found  for  accomplishing  a 
union  of  these  alien  characteristics  with  the  desired  ideals 
of  social  contact  and  American  institutions.  The  accom- 
plishment of  the  whole  general  plan  of  welfare  work  is 
through  education,  the  ultimate  end  being  Americanization. 
The  people  must  be  taught  American  ways.  They  must  be 
surrounded  with  American  standards  of  living. 

CLEANLINESS  AND  ORDER,  THE  FIRST  FACTORS 

The  problem  of  Americanization  must  be  taken  up  in  the 
light  of  fundamental  principles.  Before  we  made  any  men- 
tion to  the  foreigners  about  taking  out  first  papers,  a  cam- 
paign was  inaugurated  to  show  these  people  what  it  meant 
to  live  in  America.  A  point  of  contact  had  to  be  gotten. 
With  infinite  thoughtfulness  the  management  of  the  Com- 
pany provided  means  whereby  its  foreign  population  could 
be  taught  the  first  requisite  in  American  living — ^to  keep 
clean.  The  only  way  that  their  living  conditions  can  be 
described  is  in  the  phrase  that  they  "nested"  together.  In- 
vestigations disclosed  that  frequently  as  many  as  twenty 
persons  were  living  in  a  four-room  house.  The  crowded  con- 
dition in  the  tenements  of  our  great  cities  could  hardly  offer 
parallel  to  the  conditions  as  they  existed  with  the  foreigners 
in  these  communities. 

First,  then,  as  a  corrective,  the  houses  were  made  more 
attractive  for  the  tenants  by  cleaning  them  thoroughly  and 
giving  each  house  a  coat  of  paint.  Soon  after,  ash  cans  were 
provided  in  which  the  litter  was  placed,  instead  of  allowing 
it  to  be  scattered  around  the  towns.  And  each  house  was 
fenced  so  that  each  family  had  its  allotment  of  ground.    All 

Pag*   Seven 


/ 


this  was  encouraging.  The  tenant  began  to  have  a  certain 
feeling  of  proprietorship.  The  cleaning  of  the  towns  then 
became  a  very  simple  problem.  As  the  improvement  work 
progressed  the  needs  unfolded  themselves  to  the  Company, 
often  in  almost  laughable  ways.  Things  that  had  seemed  al- 
together insignificant  suddenly  started  out  into  the  fore- 
ground. For  instance,  when  the  fences  were  built,  the  for- 
eigners received  them  with  delight ;  not  on  account  of  defined 
boundaries,  but  as  a  convenience,  a  place  upon  which  they 
could  hang  everything  that  would  hang  on  a  fence.  It  was 
a  picturesque  thing,  but  one  of  appalling  disorder  to  go  into 
the  towns  and  see  fence  after  fence  covered  with  washing, 
carpets  and  clothes — everything.  It  was  apparent  that 
clothes-lines  were  needed  and  clothes-poles.  The  Company 
furnished  them  but  the  problem  of  disorder  was  by  no 
means  solved. 

Everything  that  was  not  found  of  use  in  the  house  was 
thrown  into  the  yard.  Boxes  were  nailed  on  the  outside  of 
the  houses ;  wash  tubs  regaled  the  front  and  back  porches ; 
beds  that  for  a  time  might  be  out  of  use  were  put  outside; 
the  general  appearance  was  discouraging  in  the  extreme. 
To  meet  this  phase  of  the  situation  required  some  very 
adroit  handling.  Each  family  had  to  be  visited  and  impress- 
ed with  the  fact  that  order  was  a  requirement.  Cellars  then 
had  to  be  provided  for  the  storing  of  such  things  as  were 
needed  only  for  special  occasions,  and  with  the  exercise  of 
endless  patience  the  outside  appearance  of  the  houses  was 
finally  improved.  It  was  important  not  to  antagonize  the 
people  but  to  win  them  to  the  cause  and  to  rouse  in  them  a 
worthy  pride. 

Another  improvement  tending  toward  the  general  order 
of  the  community  was  the  building  of  a  coal  bin  for  each 
house.  This  did  away  with  the  amazing  untidiness  of  having 
a  load  of  coal  scattered  around  the  yard.  All  of  this  was 
done  to  show  the  people  what  it  meant  to  live  in  America. 

TOWN  MEASURES 

The  Company  has  always  provided  adequate  facilities  for 

Pag«   Eight 


the  housing  of  its  employees  in  the  mining  communities, 
both  as  to  the  furnishing  of  dwellings  for  the  men  of  family 
and  of  spacious  boarding  houses  for  single  men.  However, 
for  some  years,  little  attention  was  directed  toward  any  fea- 
ture of  the  housing  other  than  the  equipment  of  substantial 
buildings  of  the  frame  type  such  as  are  ordinarily  provided 
in  coal  mining  centers  for  the  convenience  of  workmen.  Suf- 
ficient space  for  the  number  of  people  allotted  to  the  houses 
of  various  size  and  a  dependable  shelter  for  such  number  con- 
cluded the  problem  of  housing,  exclusive  of  the  necessary 
maintenance.  This  system  answered  the  requirements  of 
our  labor  quite  effectively  for  years  and  was  altered  follow- 
ing a  desire  to  educate  our  workmen  to  an  appreciation  of 
the  better  sanitary  manner  in  which  American  workmen  are 
accustomed  to  live  in  their  homes. 

Through  the  appointment  of  housing  inspectors  a  sys- 
tem of  supervision  in  ordinary  sanitation  was  inaugurated. 
The  duties  of  the  several  inspectors  include  a  daily  supervi- 
sion of  the  premises  of  all  dwelling  houses  with  instructions 
to  the  householder  as  to  the  proper  care  of  the  disposal  of 
garbage  and  the  cleanliness  of  yards,  outhouses,  fences  and 
like  equipment  of  each  place.  The  work  was  facilitated  bj^ 
an  order  issued  for  the  removal  of  all  the  unnecessary  struc- 
tures and  the  general  litter  accumulated  through  years  of 
tenancy.  As  soon  as  this  renovation  was  accomplished  work 
was  begun  in  improving  the  appearance  of  the  dwelling 
houses  and  premises.  Most  of  the  houses  constructed  in  the 
earlier  days  of  operation  were  of  frame  design,  and  although 
there  was  a  general  uniformity  in  the  various  arrangement 
of  houses,  yet  there  was  a  noticeable  variance  in  the  com- 
munity appearance  because  of  certain  disregard  that  the 
foreigners  had  for  the  appearance  of  their  homes  and  yards. 

The  frame  buildings  which  were  in  proper  state  of  pre- 
servation were  all  painted,  and  others  of  older  structure 
were  refinished  by  the  application  of  a  concrete  pebble-dash 
coating,  which  improved  the  general  appearance  and  at  once 
added  to  the  comfort  of  the  occupants  by  increasing  the 
warmth  of  the  building. 

Page  Nine 


The  work  of  refinishing  and  re-decorating  older  struc- 
tures was  supplemented  by  the  plan  followed  in  erecting  new 
houses  of  more  enduring  materials  than  wood.  New  houses 
now  constructed  in  the  towns  are  of  concrete  and  of  hollow 
tile  design.  They  vary  in  size  from  the  comfortable  four- 
room  cottage  to  the  six-room  house  complete  with  clothes 
closets,  bath  rooms. and  large  screened-in  porches. 

Close  study  of  all  problems  of  the  disposal  of  garbage 
and  the  regular  renovating  of  yards  has  furnished  informa- 
tion which  is  valuable  in  summarizing  the  needs  of  all  local- 
ities and  communities  in  each  of  the  mine  properties.  Daily 
removal  of  garbage  accumulating  from  the  kitchen  and 
household  has  taught  the  householders  the  importance  of 
meeting  the  Company's  efforts  in  keeping  their  habitations 
clean. 

Each  house  now  is  furnished  with  electric  lights  and 
running  water  in  or  adjacent  to  the  house. 

To  assist  in  the  care  of  the  garden  as  well  as  to  provide 
a  convenient  water  supply  for  household  use,  the  Company 
has  installed  extensive  water  systems  covering  all  its  towns 
where  natural  water  supply  is  available,  and  in  localities 
where  natural  source  is  lacking  water  is  hauled  daily  to 
furnish  all  the  needs  of  each  family  at  a  minimum  charge 
for  the  labor  service. 

The  residents  of  the  towns  are  rapidly  acquiring  a 
knowledge  of  the  care  of  their  places  and  although  there  is 
an  occasional  laggard,  yet  the  majority  respond  willingly 
and  have  a  pride  in  the  appearance  of  their  homes. 

Hundreds  of  trees  have  been  set  out  in  the  yards  and  in 
the  community  centers  which  add  greatly  to  the  general  at- 
tractiveness. Lawns  have  been  planted  and  each  year  the 
Company  gives  special  attention  to  beautifying  the  towns. 

The  new  towns  are  models  in  appearance.  There  is  a 
fine  general  maintenance  of  the  equipment,  to  which  the 
Company  may  point  with  pride.  The  uniform  appearance 
of  the  houses  and  yards,  well  graded  street  levels  and  alley- 
ways give  the  general  aspect  of  a  city  rather  than  that  of  a 

Pag*  T«n 


mining  community.    At  night  the  towns  are  lighted  with 
electric  street  lamps. 

BOARDING  HOUSES 

Many  of  the  men  employed  by  the  Company  are  single 
and  provision  must  be  made  to  furnish  them  with  suitable 
places  in  which  to  live.  Men  well  housed  and  well  fed  are 
satisfied  and  efficient  workers ;  so  it  has  been  the  plan  of  the 
Company  to  supervise  the  operation  of  the  boarding  houses 
and  in  that  way  to  promote  contentment  among  this  portion 
of  its  working  force. 

The  boarding  houses  are  substantially  built,  being  de- 
signed to  provide  adequate  room  space  for  sleeping  quar- 
ters as  well  as  for  living  rooms,  dining  rooms  and  kitchens. 
The  Company  keeps  the  buildings  in  perfect  repair.  They 
are  regularly  renovated  and  redecorated  so  as  to  have  them 
always  attractively  clean.  All  windows  and  doors  are 
screened  and  screened-in  porches  add  to  the  comfort  of  the 
men  during  pleasant  weather.  It  is  diflficult  to  find  people 
w^ho  are  qualified  to  manage  the  boarding  houses,  and  toward 
their  selection  very  special  attention  is  given. 

BATH  HOUSES 

As  part  of  the  general  welfare  and  improvement  plan, 
the  Company  has  installed  at  each  of  its  towns  bath  house 
equipment  with  showers  and  dressing  rooms.  The  service 
is  free.  To  get  the  effect  of  this  innovation  on  the  men,  it 
is  only  necessary  to  see  the  men  entering  the  bath  houses  as 
they  come  from  work — tired,  black  beyond  recognition,  ex- 
pressionless— and  then  to  see  them  leave  the  house,  refresh- 
ed, transformed  in  appearance,  and  alert  to  get  the  best  out 
of  the  hours  they  still  may  spend  in  the  daylight.  The  return 
of  the  men  to  their  homes  in  this  condition  has  its  psycho- 
logical effect  on  the  home  life.  It  seems  to  make  the  home 
a  place  to  which  the  men  are  glad  to  go  and  where  they 
naturally  are  more  welcome. 

Page  Eleven 


MEDICAL  AND  HOSPITAL  CARE 

The  medical  care  of  the  employees  of  the  Company  re- 
ceives careful  attention.  In  each  town  there  is  a  resident 
doctor  and  at  a  central  point  the  Company  maintains  a  high- 
ly modern  and  thoroughly  equipped  hospital  in  charge  of  the 
Chief  Surgeon  for  the  Company.  A  sufficient  corps  of 
trained  nurses  is  maintained,  so  that  in  case  of  an  emergency 
any  town  may  call  upon  the  hospital  for  assistance.  A  part 
of  the  hospital  equipment  includes  a  completely  equipped 
operating  room,  modem  laboratory,  and  a  Universal  X-ray 
Snook  Transformer.  Twice  each  year  the  school  children 
are  examined  and  copies  of  the  results  are  sent  the  par- 
ents, the  principal  of  the  schools  and  the  Chief  Surgeon. 

COMPANY  STORES 

At  all  towns  general  stores  are  operated  for  the  conven- 
ience of  the  residents.  They  carry  complete  lines  of  mer- 
chandise and  anticipate  the  varied  demands  of  the  trade. 
Prices  are  in  line  with  those  in  the  adjacent  city.  Orders  are 
taken  at  the  houses  and  supplies  are  delivered  through  regu- 
lar delivery  service.  At  each  of  the  stores  there  is  a  bank 
which  is  run  in  strict  conformity  with  banking  laws  and  pro- 
cedure. They  conduct  a  regular  banking  business  and  are 
generously  patronized  by  the  town  residents. 

MEETING  THE  PROBLEM  AT  THE  HOME  AND  THE 
SCHOOL 

Then  came  the  more  delicate  problem  of  reconstructing 
the  inner  conditions  of  the  homes.  For  this  work  travelling 
nurses  were  engaged.  It  required  persons  of  the  utmost 
tact  and  skill  to  meet  the  complex  and  delicate  situation.  It 
did  not  mean  going  into  the  houses  and  telling  what  should 
be  done;  it  meant  going  into  the  houses  and  working  with 
the  families  to  show  them  how  things  should  be  done  and  to 
reveal  to  them  that  from  the  standpoint  of  hygiene  and 

Page  Twelve 


health  the  new  conditions  were  of  inestimable  benefit  to 
them.  They  were  taught  to  wash  their  windows,  scrub 
floors,  to  care  for  food,  screen  windows  and  doors  and  in 
new  and  better  ways  to  care  for  their  children. 

At  the  same  time  a  like  work  was  conducted  through 
the  schools  with  gratifying  results.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
school  year  prizes  were  offered  for  personal  cleanliness. 
This  did  not  require  that  the  children  should  wear  their 
Sunday  clothes  every  day,  but  it  did  hold  out  that  each  child 
should  come  to  school  with  his  face  and  hands  clean  and  his 
clothes  brushed.  When  the  Welfare  Manager  visited  the 
school  it  was  always  a  subject  for  comment  and  praise.  The 
children  very  quickly  caught  the  idea  and  were  proud  to 
show  their  hands,  often  scrubbed  raw  in  the  effort  to  get 
them  clean ;  their  faces  shone  and  their  heads  were  slicked 
with  brushing.  At  the  end  of  the  year  it  was  very  difficult  to 
award  the  prizes,  but  it  had  to  be  carried  out  according  to 
promise,  so  the  prizes  were  given  and  an  especial  day  set 
aside  for  a  school  picnic. 

It  is  of  more  than  passing  significance  that  the  children 
themselves  volunteered  to  put  their  prize  money  into  library 
equipment.  Surely  the  work  of  Americanization  finds  its 
greatest  success  in  educating  the  children.  They  carry  the 
influence  into  the  homes  and  into  the  future. 

The  work  is  intensely  interesting  and  furnishes  all  kinds 
of  choice  experiences.  The  teacher  in  one  of  the  primary 
schools  one  day  asked  a  bright-eyed  little  girl  who  was  chew- 
ing gum  to  put  her  gum  in  the  waste  paper  basket.  The 
child  hesitated  and  was  loath  to  obey.  The  teacher  spoke 
again  and  asked  if  she  had  not  heard  the  request.  Mary 
raised  her  bright  eyes  appealingly.  "Please,  teacher,  please," 
she  said,  "it's  my  mother's!"  Hardly  could  one  execute  a 
command  in  the  face  of  such  a  fact. 

THE  SCHOOL 

In  all  this  work  the  school  is  our  best  friend.  Roger  W. 
Babson,  in  concluding  his  publication  of  "The  Future  of  the 

Page  Thirteen 


Working  Classes"  says :  "Those  of  us  who  are  interested  in 
the  future  of  the  working  classes  should  cease  looking  to  ar- 
bitration and  the  courts,  but  rather  to  education  and 
schools,"  making  clear  his  point  that  "strikes  and  wars  can 
be  alleviated  only  by  training  the  youth  of  the  nation  in  the 
fundamentals  of  character  and  economic  intelligence."  So  a 
two-fold  duty  devolves  on  our  schools — ^to  instruct  the  child 
in  the  fundamentals  of  character  and  economic  intelligence, 
and  through  the  child  to  reach  the  parent.  Immediate  re- 
sults cannot  be  achieved  by  primary  work  among  the  adult 
population,  so  the  first  effort  must  be  made  to  prepare  for 
the  assimilation  of  the  children. 

American  freedom  in  the  home,  which  is  peculiar  to  our 
own  land,  is  most  easily  learned  by  the  foreign  bom  through 
the  children,  and  our  good  schools  have  proved  fine  forces 
for  spreading  education  beyond  the  school  room.  There  is 
instilled  into  the  minds  of  the  youthful  alien  a  desire  to  ac- 
quire the  semblance  of  that  home  freedom  for  his  own.  The 
position  is  reached  whereby  the  child  speaks  in  the  leading 
voice  to  the  elder  member  of  the  houshold.  In  the  main  this 
part  of  the  undertaking  goes  smoothly.  It  has  been  an  easy 
matter  to  incite  constant  attendance  at  school  so  far  as  the 
children  are  concerned.  The  hampering  condition  is  the  fact 
that  many  of  our  foreign  bom  people  were  not  previously 
impressed  with  the  value  and  need  of  primary  education,  and 
a  few  at  times  have  stood  in  the  way  of  their  children  being 
among  their  playmates  in  convenient  and  pleasant  surround- 
ings in  the  school  and  on  the  well-equipped  school  grounds. 

SCHOOL  METHODS  PRACTICABLE  AND  PLEASUR- 
ABLE 

The  average  coal  miner's  child  receives  only  such  educa- 
tional training  as  he  gets  in  the  town  schools ;  therefore,  it 
is  of  the  greatest  importance  that  he  be  given  the  kind  of 
training  best  to  fit  him  to  concentrate  and  think,  to  organ- 
ize and  reason,  to  work  and  rule.    In  artistic  surroundings 

Page  Fourteen 


to  be  given  instruction  in  the  practical  subjects  and  not  in 
the  fashionable  sciences.  With  that  in  mind,  the  training  of 
the  child  is  at  present  carried  on  from  the  kindergarten 
through  the  eighth  grade.  At  the  beginning  of  the  school 
year  the  kindergarten  is  made  up  almost  entirely  of  children 
of  foreign  parents  who  do  not  understand  a  word  of  Eng- 
lish. To  the  delight  of  the  child,  he  is  given  things  to  do  that 
his  home  life  has  been  wholly  bereft  of.  School  at  once  is  a 
kind  of  strange  wonderland  for  him.  Here  he  works  with 
papers  of  gorgeous  hues,  colors  so  alluring  to  the  foreigner, 
moulds  in  clay,  plays  in  games  to  muiVic,  and  all  the  time  is 
rapidly  acquiring  a  speaking  knowledge  of  the  English  lan- 
guage. He  is  taught  cleanliness  since  good  health  is  the  first 
requisite  of  good  work.  Proper  exercises  are  given  and  at 
all  times  play  is  mingled  with  work,  so  that  the  child  gets  his 
full  quota  of  exercise  and  fresh  air.  Special  emphasis  is 
placed  on  this  feature  of  our  educational  system  because  we 
realize  that  the  kindergarten  not  only  takes  the  child  at  its 
most  impressionable  period,  but  that  it  furnishes  a  center 
from  which  to  radiate  influences  that  affect  the  whole  social 
betterment  situation.  A  little  girl  of  six  brought  to  the  sew- 
ing teacher  materials  for  sash  curtains.  She  asked  the 
teacher  to  make  them.  The  child  had  persuaded  her  father 
to  buy  the  material  because  she  wanted  curtains  in  her  hom.e 
like  the  ones  at  school. 

At  the  end  of  the  kindergarten  year  the  little  foreigners 
speak  English  very  fluently  and  are  then  prepared  for  the 
next  step  in  Americanization,  the  beginning  of  the  regular 
graded  school  work.  Here  special  attention  is  given  to  the 
practical.  The  girls  are  instructed  in  sewing,  being  taught 
to  make  their  own  dresses,  trim  their  hats  and  make  cur- 
tains and  useful  articles  for  the  adornment  of  their  homes. 
Particular  attention  is  given  to  corrective  gymnastics  and  at 
each  town  specially  trained  instructors  look  after  this  work. 
Gymnastic  drills  in  military  formation  to  music  are  part  of 
each  day's  work,  and  basket  ball,  volley  ball,  foot  ball,  and 
base  ball  are  indulged  in  with  immense  delight.  Play- 
Page   Fifteen 


grounds  equipped  with  the  most  modem  and  approved  ap- 
pliances are  installed  in  each  town  and  supervised  play  is  in 
each  school  schedule.  To  carry  on  the  school  work  a  corps 
of  thoroughly  trained,  competent  and  experienced  teachers 
is  employed.  Special  attention  is  given  to  house  and  equip- 
ment. Each  school  has  a  piano  and  Victrola  and  educational 
material  and  supplies  are  provided  to  meet  the  special  re- 
quirements. In  every  room  there  is  an  American  flag  to 
which  the  pupils  pledge  their  allegiance  at  the  beginning  of 
the  morning  session.  The  Company  looks  after  the  comfort 
of  the  teachers  and  provides  houses  completely  furnished  in 
which  they  may  live.  During  the  summer  months  the  boys 
and  girls  are  in  charge  of  supervisors,  to  look  after  garden- 
ing and  other  projects. 

Fine  recognition  should  be  given  the  teachers  who  are 
quietly  guiding  and  uplifting  the  children  under  their  train- 
ing. They  strive  conscientiously  to  make  the  work  a  suc- 
cess, and  upon  them  so  much  depends.  The  real  teacher  is  a 
gifted  person  and  proper  recognition  should  be  made  of 
those  who  engage  in  the  profession  by  giving  them  better 
financial  compensation.  Everyone  is  not  qualified  to  teach, 
but  those  who  are  create  an  important  class  of  professional 
people.  They  are  zealous  and  proud  of  their  work.  We 
should  prove  our  sincerity  by  working  with  and  not  against 
them.  They  find  their  dignity,  their  courage,  their  joy  in 
the  work  because  of  its  ultimate  end,  always  in  sight,  al- 
ways attainable. 

NIGHT  SCHOOLS 

At  the  time  of  original  employment  with  the  Company, 
each  applicant  for  work  is  asked  if  he  desires  to  attend 
night  school.  The  records  show  that  over  80%  of  the  Europ- 
ean workers  who  are  unmarried  have  expressed  their  desire 
to  begin  their  education  in  the  English  language.  Without 
expense  to  the  men,  provision  is  made  for  them  to  attend 
night  school,  where  special  instruction  is  given  them  to  pre- 
pare to  become  citizens  through  naturalization. 

Page  Sixteen 


It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  carry  on  night  school  work. 
The  drifting  tendencies  of  the  men  make  regular  attendance 
a  difficult  problem.  It  is  hard  to  find  suitable  teachers.  To 
be  successful  they  must  be  singularly  alive  to  the  work  and 
must  appreciate  the  seriousness  of  teaching  adults  with  the 
same  patience  that  is  required  in  handling  children.  The 
work  must  be  vivified,  with  the  teacher  alert  to  the  degree 
that  he  can  take  the  inspiration  from  the  class  and  turn  it  to 
practical  account.  In  the  first  lesson  the  foreigner  must  get 
something  that  he  can  use  the  next  day  in  his  work,  at  the 
mine  office,  at  the  store  and  in  his  home.  He  must  be  made 
to  feel  the  great  advantage  that  speaking  English  holds  over 
his  own  language. 

Mistakes  by  the  pupil  are  many,  but  he  must 
never  be.  made  the  object  of  ridicule.  He  is  a  man  grown 
and  approaches  his  English  instruction  very  timidly.  He 
must  be  given  confidence  in  himself  to  speak  and  patiently 
led  on  until  his  advancement  inspires  the  needed  attribute — 
courage. 

Our  experience  shows  that  in  very  few  lessons  the  men 
are  able  to  give  such  information  as  this :  the  location  of  the 
places  in  the  mine,  the  kind  of  work  they  do,  check  number, 
house  number,  to  ask  for  materials  required  in  their  work. 

The  first  requisite  of  the  instruction  should  be  that  the 
work  must  proceed  along  plain,  simple  and  understandable 
lines. 

The  night  school  course  should  be  arranged  in  short 
terms.  The  work  should  be  intensive.  A  man  enters  for 
three  weeks.  In  that  time  a  definite  instruction  is  given  so 
that  at  the  end  of  the  term  he  finds  that  he  has  acquired 
something  worth  while.  He  is  then  interested  to  go  on. 
New  pupils  are  enrolled  only  at  the  beginning  of  the  term. 
A  successful  procedure  in  English  instruction  is  through  the 
use  of  pictures.  The  foreigner,  with  his  natural  love  for 
pictures,  easily  associates  names  with  objects  and  in  this 
manner  he  increases  his  vocabulary. 

Each  employer  has  his  special  problem  to  work  out  in  the 
matter  of  night  schools.    Many  methods  have  been  proposed 

Page    Seventeen 


to  Congress  toward  the  end  of  educating  the  foreign  born. 
The  most  important  thing  is  to  provide  the  means  for  the 
foreigner  to  get  his  instruction.  He  should  not  be  paid, 
nor  should  bonuses  be  given  for  his  attendance  at  night 
school,  but  he  should  be  shown  the  advantages  of  being  able 
to  speak  our  language  and  have  it  made  clear  that  he  cannot 
share  in  the  privileges  of  citizenship  until  he  has  proved 
himself  worthy  of  them.  To  pay  him  for  his  attendance 
at  night  school  would  give  him  the  impression  that  he  would 
be  favoring  his  employer  instead  o  f  benefitting  himself.  It 
is  mutually  advantageous  that  the  foreigner  should  speak 
our  language ;  but  in  dealing  with  an  emotional,  impression- 
able people  a  real  danger  lurks  in  the  approach  from  the 
wrong  angle. 

Great  stress  is  laid  upon  the  importance  of  instilling 
American  ideals  in  the  minds  of  the  foreign  born  workers 
in  our  industries,  but  as  yet  few  suggestions  have  been  made 
for  the  furtherance  of  a  plan  to  renew  the  pride  and  to 
stimulate  the  latent  appreciation  of  such  ideals  in  the  hearts 
of  our  own  native  born  fellows  who  are  the  associates  of 
these  newcomers  in  our  industrial  organizations.  The  work 
of  Americanizing  the  American  should  keep  pace  with  the 
work  of  Americanizing  the  foreign  born. 

Americanization  is  a  complex  matter  and  there  are  many 
approaches  to  it.  It  necessarily  is  a  slow  and  thorough  pro- 
cess if  it  is  complete.  There  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  first 
steps — the  influence  of  American  living  conditions,  instruc- 
tion in  the  English  language,  and  most  effective  of  all,  the 
education  of  the  rising  generation. 

AGAIN,  THE  GROUP  PROBLEM 

Welfare  work  is  constructive — improvement  work  al- 
ways is.  The  accomplishment  of  one  thing  shows  the  neces- 
sity for  another.  And  so  with  the  houses  made  attractive 
and  comfortable,  the  fences  having  been  completed,  the 
sanitary  and  general  health  conditions  having  constant  at- 
tention, the  bath  houses  in  operation,  the  schools  of  high 

Page  Eighteen 


standard ;  in  a  word,  the  towns  made  at  once  pleasing  in  ap- 
pearance and  desirable  places  in  which  to  live ;  yet  this  con- 
dition which  has  already  been  mentioned — ^the  disposition  of 
the  foreigners  to  segregate — still  comes  prominently  into 
the  foreground.  The  towns  are  made  up  of  unassimilated 
groups — ^groups  with  varying  social  ideals,  varying  lang- 
uages. The  need,  then,  was  to  have  a  common  ground 
where  the  different  nationalities  could  meet  for  recreation 
and  enjoyment.  The  saloon  had  formerly  served  in  its  way 
as  a  meeting  place  for  men.  When  prohibition  became  effec- 
tive, it  was  decided  to  convert  the  old  saloon  buildings  into 
community  houses.  ' 

COMMUNITY  HOUSES  FOR  AMERICANIZING   THE 
GROUPS  .. 

The  carrying  out  of  this  plan  has  provided  the  towns 
with  most  attractive  social  centers.  There  is  nothing  now 
that  suggests  the  old  saloons,  for  in  the  remodeling  and  ex- 
tensive additions  they  have  entirely  lost  their  identity  and 
m  their  stead  are  carefully  planned  buildings  which  are  won- 
derfully suited  to  the  purpose  of  giving  pleasure  to  hundreds 
of  people  living  in  the  mining  communities  operated  by  the 
Company. 

In  the  main  the  general  plan  is  the  same  for  all  of  the 
houses,  though  they  have  their  separate  characteristic  style 
in  architectural  design.  The  arrangement  includes  a  screen- 
ed-in  porch  from  which  entrance  is  gained  to  a  spacious  re- 
freshment room  in  which  is  a  soda  fountain,  furnished  with 
all  the  appliances  and  devices  employed  in  the  serving  of 
fountain  refreshments.  The  dance  halls  adjoin  the  refresh- 
ment rooms  and  are  arranged  and  constructed  to  accommo- 
date the  maximum  attendance.  These  rooms  are  also  fur- 
nished to  provide  for  motion  picture  entertainment  and  are 
fitted  out  with  modern  picture  machines  and  their  scientific 
appliances  which  make  them  most  efficient.  The  pictures  are 
always  selected  from  the  best  programs  offered  by  dis- 

Page  Nineteen 


tributors  and  include  the  super-special  productions  as  they 
are  released  for  exhibition. 

Frequent  dances,  concerts,  social  affairs  and  club  meet- 
ings enliven  the  town  spirit  and  promote  a  desired  mingling 
of  nationalities  under  wholesome,  happy  conditions. 

Other  rooms  in  the  building  provide  generous  accom- 
modations for  library  and  reading  rooms,  women's  parlors, 
completely  arranged  kitchens,  billiard  and  pool  rooms  and 
barber  shops.  The  furnishings  have  been  carefully  selected 
to  the  end  that  they  may  give  the  greatest  comfort  to  the 
town  people.  They  are  substantial  in  design  and  of  fine 
finish — Flemish  oak,  combined  with  leather,  give  the  rooms 
a  certain  elegance  of  tone. 

As  part  of  the  regular  furnishings,  phonographs  are  in- 
stalled and  each  house  has  one  of  the  finest  of  electrically 
controlled  expression  pianos.  Here  the  people  may  gather 
for  general  entertainment,  the  women  may  have  their  after- 
noon social  meetings  for  which  they  may  prepare  and  serve 
their  own  refreshments,  the  young  people  may  enjoy  their 
dancing,  all  of  which  in  no  way  interferes  with  those  who 
wish  to  spend  a  quiet  hour  in  reading  or  writing. 

SIDELIGHTS 

Precautionary  Measures  During  the  Epidemic 

During  the  recent  epidemic  of  influenza  the  schools  were 
kept  open  until  it  became  necessary  to  use  the  buildings  for 
emergency  hospitals.  Up  to  this  time  there  had  been  no 
cases  of  influenza  among  the  children,  and  the  subject  of 
hygiene  came  to  the  fore.  The  children,  on  reaching  the 
school,  were  first  given  a  gargle  drill.  Each  child  had  his 
own  cup.  The  cups  were  prepared  by  the  teacher  with  salt 
water  gargle ;  then  the  children  were  marched  out  for  a  reg- 
ular gargle  drill.  They  delighted  in  it  and  gargled  away 
with  the  enthusiasm  of  a  chorus  in  light  opera.  Whether 
this  means  was  an  effective  one  or  not,  the  results  were  sat- 
isfactory.   As  a  further  health  measure,  the  childijlen  were 

Page  Twenty 


I 


given  supervised  exercise  during  the  morning  and  afternoon 
sessions,  and  as  many  recitations  as  could  be  were  conducted 
out  of  doors.  The  children  were  lined  up  in  military  forma- 
tion and  given  calesthenics  and  breathing  exercises  which 
they  executed  with  zeal. 

It  happened  that  the  epidemic  gripped  many  commun- 
ities of  the  State  before  precautionary  measures  could  be 
taken.  People  feared  and  dreaded  it  without  knowing  how  to 
protect  themselves.  To  guard  the  towns  of  the  Company 
against  the  epidemic  they  were  all  placed  in  a  state  of 
quarantine  before  the  influenza  made  its  appearance  in  the 
surrounding  towns.  The  main  idea  of  the  Company  was  to 
impress  on  the  people  the  seriousness  of  the  situation, 
and  at  the  same  time  minimize  the  fear.  With  that  in  mind, 
the  necesary  restriction  of  liberty,  as  to  frequent  mov- 
ing in  and  out  of  the  towns,  v/as  received  kindly.  There  was 
no  discontent.  Our  people  appreciated  the  careful  watch- 
fulness of  their  health.  Finally,  in  spite  of  the  utmost  care 
the  epidemic  got  started  in  the  Company's  towns.  Imme- 
diately, everything  was  done  for  the  stricken ;  a  corps  of  doc- 
tors and  nurses  was  provided  at  the  Company's  expense  and 
the  situation,  grave  as  it  was,  was  handled  in  a  most  success- 
ful manner. 

What  The  Selling  of  Liberty  Bonds  Revealed 

Just  as  among  the  mining  town  children  one  who  works 
with  them  suddenly  sees  the  gleam  of  larger  qualities,  so, 
too,  with  the  men  and  women  there  are  many  intimations 
of  the  response  to  fine  things.  The  war  brought  out  unsus- 
pected fervors. 

In  each  town  a  point  of  particular  pride  had  been  the 
erection  of  a  flag  pole.  The  American  flag  was  raised  every 
morning  and  lowered  in  the  evening.  Unconsciously,  the 
people  living  in  the  towns  were  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
patriotism  and  the  response  of  these  people  of  foreign  birth 
during  the  great  war  was  so  remarkable  as  to  deserve  recog- 
nition.   At  one  of  the  towns  a  beautiful  twenty-foot  Ameri- 

Page  Twenty>One 


can  flag"  was  made  by  the  wife  of  the  mine  foreman.  Both 
the  foreman  and  his  wife  are  of  Italian  birth.  She  had  pur- 
chased the  materials  and  had  diligently  made  the  flag  by 
hand,  taking  the  pattern  from  a  picture  of  a  little  flag  print- 
ed on  a  calendar.  As  the  flag  floats  from  the  pole  in  the 
community  center  it  is  a  fine  expression  of  the  loyalty  of 
those  living  within  sight  of  its  colors.  Perhaps  no  community 
people  responded  more  generously  to  the  calls  for  assistance 
than  did  these  foreigners.  When  the  Liberty  Bonds 
were  offered  for  sale,  each  man  in  the  Company  was 
approached  and  each  man  in  the  Company  bought.  The 
bonds  were  sold  with  the  right  spirit,  a  special 
point  being  made  of  why  they  were  offered  and  what  they 
meant.  No  man  purchased  a  bond  without  knowing  what 
was  back  of  it,  and  each  purchaser  was  proud  of  the  fact  that 
in  buying  Liberty  Bonds  he  was  becoming  a  share  holder  in 
this  great  country.  They  aided  the  Government  at  the  time 
when  aid  was  needed,  and  it  was  an  excellent  chance  to  im- 
press upon  the  foreign  born  what  the  privileges  of  living 
in  America  really  meant.  Besides  impressing  the  foreigners 
with  the  patriotic  motive,  it  taught  them  to  save  their  money 
and  it  protected  them  in  the  expenditure  of  their  money. 
That  they  failed  to  subscribe  voluntarily  was  because  they 
had  not  been  educated  in  the  purpose  of  the  bonds.  To  meet 
this  need,  meetings  were  held  and  pamphlets  were  distribut- 
ed. It  was  interesting  to  compare  the  differences  among  the 
nationalities  in  their  readiness  to  respond.  The  Greeks  were 
the  quickest  to  buy. 

The  way  of  selling  the  bonds  was  carefully  worked  out. 
The  Welfare  Manager,  with  the  Superintendents  of  the 
mines,  went  into  each  mine  and  saw  each  man  in  his 
working  place  in  the  mine  or  out  of  it.  Men  were  stopped 
from  their  work  to  have  the  purpose  of  the  visit  explained. 
Many  bought  quickly;  others  offered  excuses  which  were 
very  much  alike.  Again  and  again  the  response  was,  "No 
got  money — want  to  help."    "Not  now,  next  time,  maybe." 

Page  Twenty-Two 


*'Big  family,"  ''Brother  in  hospital,"  "Owe  two  hundred  dol- 
lars in  Michigan,"  "Send  money  to  my  papa  in  old  country," 
"My  mama  he  buy  farm — take  all  money,"  "I  buy  auto- 
mobile," and,  always  with  a  smile,  "Must  have  my 
beer."  Excuses  rarely  varied,  and  when  they  were 
given  the  Welfare  Manager  could  frequently  sug- 
gest one  or  two  that  might  be  overlooked.  That  made 
the  miner  good  natured  and  he  laughed  at  his  own 
ability  to  offer  reasons  for  not  buying.  All  of  this  was 
preliminary.  Then  the  seriousness  of  the  situation  was 
explained  to  them — the  really  fine  part  they  were  playing  in 
helping  win  the  war  by  staying  at  their  working  places  in 
the  mine  and  helping  produce  coal  made  an  appeal  to  them 
that  in  working  as  they  did  they  were  no  less  patriotic  nor 
were  they  serving  their  country  in  a  lesser  degree  than  the 
men  who  were  fighting  in  the  trenches.  Frequently,  after 
offering  every  excuse  that  he  could  smilingly  think  of,  a 
miner  would  pledge  himself  to  the  purchase  of  at  least  one 
hundred  dollars'  worth  of  bonds  and  very  often  two  hundred 
dollars,  and  from  that  on  up  to  one  thousand  dollars.  The 
excuses  given  were  finally  swept  aside,  when,  after 
placing  the  order,  they  would  say:  "I  pay  cash  tonight" 
and,  true  to  their  word,  they  would  come  to  the  mine  oflftce  on 
their  return  from  their  work  and  pay  cash  for  the  securities 
they  had  pledged  themselves  to  buy. 

The  greatest  patience  had  to  be  exercised  to  make  the 
men  understand ;  after  that  it  was  clear  going.  Often  there 
was  confusion  in  their  minds  and  they  did  not  know  the  dif- 
ference between  Liberty  Bonds,  Y.  M.  C.  A.  subscriptions, 
or  Red  Cross  drive.  After  exhausting  every  possible  argu- 
ment upon  one  Italian  and  making  every  kind  of  patriotic 
appeal,  this  man  said :  "All  right,  I  buy.  I  give  fifty  cents." 
Then,  knowing  his  reason  was  not  to  evade  buying  but  be- 
cause of  his  not  understanding  the  situation,  further  pa- 
tience and  explanation  resulted  in  the  man's  buying  a  two 
hundred  dollar  bond,  cash,  and  promising  to  subscribe  to 
every  future  loan,  which  he  has  most  patriotically  done. 

The  bonds  being  sold,  the  next  step  was  to  educate  the 

Page  Twenty-Three 


men  in  the  care  of  the  bonds.  One  Mexican  bought  a  hun- 
dred dollar  bond  of  the  Second  Liberty  Loan  in  five  months 
by  equal  deductions  made  each  month.  At  the  end  of  that 
time  he  quit  his  job  to  visit  his  parents.  When  he  called  for 
his  time  at  the  office  he  was  given  a  hundred  dollar  bond. 
He  did  not  appreciate  that  he  had  been  paying  for  it.  He 
didn't  know  what  to  do  with  it.  He  seemed  to  be  dismayed 
at  its  possession  and  when  it  was  all  carefully  explained  to 
him,  he  asked  when  he  would  have  to  start  paying  interest 
on  it! 

The  successful  salesmanship  of  the  bonds  often  required 
a  common  interest.  Tony  Romljek,  a  prosperous  young 
Austrian,  had  made  the  boast  that  he  would  not  buy — not  to 
be  construed  as  disloyalty  to  the  Government,  but  because 
he  said  he  preferred  to  deposit  his  money  in  the  Post-Office. 
He  lived  alone  in  a  pebble-dashed  cottage  and  worked  in  the 
mines  at  night.  When  the  Welfare  Manager  finally  met  him 
at  his  house,  on  entering  the  room  he  was  surprised  to  see 
that  the  wall  was  lined  with  barrels.  Tony  had  pur- 
chased two  thousand  pounds  of  grapes  and  had  put  them 
all  down  in  wine.  Here  was  a  possible  point  of  contact  with 
Tony — a  discussion  of  his  wine.  Without  suspecting  the 
purpose  of  the  visit  Tony  was  led  to  tell  about  the  wine, 
the  making  of  it  and  aging  of  it.  Finally,  Tony  was 
won  over  and  in  a  moment  of  generous  impulse  he  offered 
the  Manager  a  drink.  He  took  from  his  bench  a  wash  basin 
absolutely  covered  with  a  soapy  grime.  Into  this  basin 
Tony  drew  off  some  wine.  He  held  it  up  and  looked  at  it 
in  the  critical  way  of  an  expert.  "There  are  pieces  of  grape 
in  it,"  he  remarked,  and  reached  into  his  pocket.  He  drew 
out  a  very  soiled  handkerchief.  It  was  evident  that  he 
meant  to  strain  the  wine.  The  Manager  then  appreciated 
what  he  was  up  against.  He  saw  that  that  was  the  wine  he 
must  drink,  so  he  told  Tony  that  since  the  particles  were 
only  pieces  of  grape  they  v/ould  not  hurt  the  wine. 
Then  Tony  poured  the  wine  from  the  basin  into  an  al- 
most equally  dirty  cup  and  offered  it  to  the  Welfare  Man- 
ager to  drink.    He  drank  it. 

Page   Twenty-Four 


He  sold  Tony  five  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  Liberty 
Bonds  for  cash. 

THE  FOREIGNERS'  GIFT  TO  THE  AMERICANS 

From  the  American  point  of  view,  it  would  seem  that 
the  Americans  give  all  and  receive  nothing  in  return.  On 
the  contrary  the  foreigner  makes  a  generous  cultural  con- 
tribution to  our  life. 

With  the  building  of  fences  the  yards  of  the  foreigners  at 
once  became  gardens  of  remarkable  practical  work.  The 
training  in  Europe  had  taught  them  to  cultivate  the  soil  suc- 
cessfully and  Americans  can  easily  profit  in  following  the 
garden  plan  that  yields  such  gratifying  returns.  The  for- 
eigners are  masters  in  arrangement.  Their  natural  love  for 
the  beautiful  is  expressed  in  groupings  of  gorgeous  flowers 
and  their  appreciation  of  the  practical  shows  in  sturdy  rows 
of  choice  vegetables. 

They  have  a  deep  love  for  music.  At  one  of  the  recent 
concerts  the  most  appealing  numbers  were  those  given  by 
the  foreigners.  Melodious  accordian  music,  the  rythm  of 
stringed  instruments,  the  folk  songs  and  numbers  by  the 
band  were  delightful  revelations  to  the  American  part  of 
the  audience.  The  Americans  were  able  to  do  very  little 
on  the  program,  but  the  Italians,  the  Austrians  and  the 
Welsh  brought  forward  the  rich  elements  of  their  national 
arts. 

There  is  another  subject  for  consideration.  The  for- 
eigners are  home  people.  The  women  are  thrifty.  They 
make  everything  they  can  and  save  everything  they  can. 
Few  of  the  American  women  in  the  mining  towns  bake 
their  own  bread.  The  foreign  women  all  do.  This  is  one 
instance.  All  through  the  work  we  are  in  the  presence  of 
the  solid  virtues,  one  of  the  most  practical  of  which  is  the 
foreigner's  unfailing  instinct  for  courtesy.  Again  and  again 
the  American  finds  himself  in  the  presence  of  a  veritable 
prince  of  manners.  They  will  almost  certainly  bring  into 
our  life  a  needed  strain  of  gentlemanliness.  And  their  rich- 
Page  Twenty-Five 


toned  voices  are  a  distinct  asset  toward  Americanism  of  the 
future. 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  WORK 

The  important  part  of  any  work  is  the  spirit  of  it.  One 
must  understand  it  and  revere  the  wisdom  and  necessity  of 
it.  The  Company  recognized  that  it  could  aid  materially  in 
moulding  the  character  and  aiding  the  development  of  its 
alien  units  by  shaping  their  lives  along  the  lines  of  civic 
and  social  usefulness.  Vast  sums  of  money  have  been  spent 
in  improving  the  conditions  under  which  its  men  work  and 
live,  and  hundreds  of  men  and  women  who  live  in  its  towns 
are  being  guided  toward  industrial  content  and  betterment. 
The  work  of  Americanization  must  not  be  spasmodic;  it 
must  be  sustained.  Above  all,  there  must  be  vision.  No  one 
has  a  right  to  undertake  it  who  does  not  believe  in  for- 
eigners. 


Page  Twenty-Six 


^rayiora  JtJros. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

PAT.  JAN  21,  1908 


'Xi>-<i 


■-^■■■:^^ 


